Institute for the Humanities

The University of Manitoba Institute for the Humanities (UMIH) was established in 1990 to foster research and scholarship in the Humanities at the University of Manitoba, to promote cross-disciplinary research in the Humanities, and to help obtain external funding for Humanities research. The Institute addresses the needs and interests of researchers in a broad range of subject including literature and languages, film and visual culture, philosophy, history and religion, and also the literary, philosophical, theological and historical aspects of the social and physical sciences, mathematics, the arts, and professional studies. UMIH supports three or four research clusters and two or three research affiliates. The Institute is located within the Faculty of Arts but is intended to serve the entire Humanities constituency in the University and the general community. The Institute is accordingly committed to community outreach through programs and lecture series for the general public.

UMIH NEWS

The Institute for the Humanities is pleased to announce that the UMIH, along with Shelley Sweeney (Head, University Archives & Special Collections), have been awarded $75,000 over two years (2009-10, 2010-11) from the University of Manitoba Academic Enhancement Fund for a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Two-Spirited (LGBTT) Archival and Oral History Initiative. 

This Initiative will dramatically enhance the LGBTT resources at the University of Manitoba, and ultimately make the University a centre for research excellence in the interdisciplinary field of LGBTT studies. Many of the related archival materials – currently deposited with the University Archives and Special Collections – deal with the decades long struggle by LGBTT people and communities for human rights, social justice, and dignity.  Collecting LGBTT archival materials, including the records of organizations, relevant periodicals, and individual oral histories, is all part of the larger project of witnessing and remembering – cornerstones for the establishment, protection and expansion of Human Rights.

This project has two principle components: first, to work with a graduate student from the University of Manitoba Archival Studies Program to help access the existing LGBTT materials that have been deposited in the University Archives and Special Collections, through which we will be better able to identify areas for further collections, particular strengths of the collection, as well as key people and contacts for oral history interviews. The second component will involve transcribing existing oral histories in the Archives, and identifying and conducting new oral histories to expand and enrich the collection.  These two parts of the Initiative will be carried out concurrently through April 2011, commencing in February of this year.  This project is a way of reaching out to those whose experiences and stories have not yet been heard, moreover, oral histories are a crucial educational resource for teachers and community workers conducting outreach and public awareness around homophobia, coming out, HIV/AIDS prevention, and a host of other potential uses.  The UMIH is excited to be a part of such an initiative, and will be focusing on realizing this major research project through the 2010-11 academic year. 

The UMIH is presently seeking to hire
two Graduate Student Research Assistants. 
Application deadline: Friday February 5th 2010.

The UMIH is presently accepting applications for
Research Clusters and Affiliates for the 2010-2011 academic year.

If you would like to read the Institute for the Humanities 
February 2010 Newsletter, please click here. 

If you would like to read the Institute for the Humanities
Annual Report for 2008-2009 please click here.

Please also see the Institute for the Humanities' archived newsletters.